Universal Registration Document 2020

Issues and commitmentsIn line with its raison d’être, strategy, business model and related risk factors ⁽¹⁾, chapter 3 details the EDF group’s non-financial performance issues, commitments, policies, actions and results.

16 high-priority CSR ⁽²⁾ issues

The EDF group’s high-priority CSR issues guide its actions in terms of ESG⁽³⁾ performance. They are seen as key non-financial issues, i.e. ones that involve risks and/or opportunities for the Group and its stakeholders. EDF has used a dual materiality analysis to map them over the last six years. This included identification, selection and ranking of the main non-financial issues, by combining the points of view of both external stakeholders (customers, investors, non-financial rating agencies, public authorities, etc.), and the Group itself⁽⁴⁾.

Against a changing backdrop, the initial dual materiality analysis carried out in 2014was updated in 2017 and published in 2018. An official materiality matrix was drawn up, which is not designed to list and rank all the non-financial issues, but simply the most significant, or most “material” ones. The Group matrix was prepared with the support of a specialist firm and underpinned by international standards based on documentary studies, interviews and workshops conducted with about one hundred people forming a representative cross-section of the Group’s stakeholders⁽⁵⁾. The project was divided into three phases: identification and evaluation of issues, prioritisation of issues and validation of results. External stakeholders included internationally-recognised qualified individuals as well as representatives of theGroup’s main stakeholders (authorities, administrations, shareholders, banks, customers, partners, subcontractors, suppliers, NGOs, etc.). Internally, members of the Executive Committee participated in the development process, as did managers from the Group’s main departments and subsidiaries. The conclusions were approved by the Group Senior Executive Vice-President, Innovation, Corporate Responsibility &Strategy. In 2019, the panel of EDF external stakeholders, the SustainableDevelopment Council⁽⁶⁾, met to examine the Group’s materiality analysis and, based on current best practice, recommended reducing the number of issues from 35 to 18.

On 7 May 2020, the EDF group established its raison d’être, which was adopted by 99.99% of the General Meeting and added to its articles of association: “to build a net zero energy future with electricity and innovative solutions and services, to help save the planet and drive well-being and economic development”. More than 4,000 employees⁽⁷⁾ contributed to developing this raison d’être and, in accordance with the EDF Sustainable Development Council⁽⁸⁾, examined how to officially establish the Group’s high-priority CSR issues, particularly based on the Group’s non-financial risks and risk mapping, reducing the list from 18 to 16⁽⁹⁾.

These 16 high-priority CSR issues have been ranked and categorised, in line with the EDF’s raison d’être, into four key issues:

• carbon neutrality and the climate;
• preserving the planet’s resources;
• well-being and solidarity;
• responsible growth.

These high-priority CSR issues are officially mapped in the EDF group materiality matrix: